How difficult are idolamantis diabolica?

[cwebster]

Have kept chinese and ghost manties. . Saw today that the cricket supplier i purchase from now is selling these mantises, noting they are “ moderately difficult.” Should i just wait a few more years? Am a relative newbie to mantises over the past two years. Anyone have suggestions on this? Thanks!

 

[ohaple]

Having just failed to keep one as a newbie, they aren't more difficult really day-in day-out, just preparation of the enclosure and the molting. While they are beautiful, I also found ours to have a less interesting personality when compared to our ghosts and others. I'm sure someone more experienced will give you more advice.

 

[Itsdelliott]

There is also that pinned caresheet for them in the discusson session, should give you a good idea if you can manage the conditions needed.

 

[Jaywo]

I have three Idolos and I enjoy them but they really are more skittish than my other mantids. The set-up has to be right. There are two schools of thought with humidity. One is bone-dry and the other is super humid. I am for the bone dry environment until they are subadults. I follow the seasons in Tanzania in which they came from and they have a dry season and a wet season. They require feeding every day or every other day. I haven't gone more than 3 days without feeding my guys yet. The temp is around 95-100 degrees with slightly cooler temps at night. 

They are not agile creatures and I have witnessed numerous times where they just fall down while hanging on a branch. This is the biggest problem with them when molting. They can easily fall down. So I have rounded up very heavily barked sticks and even have a few with paper towels wrapped around the branch for better traction. 

All in all, I find the challenge of raising them rewarding. They are in L5 stage and I hope to get them to adulthood. Hope this helps.

 

[cwebster]

Thank you to everyone who responded. I think i will hold off for a while and keep learning about these guys before purchasing any. 

 

[Mraw]

I'm still very new to the species but so far the only thing that is worrisome is the finial molt.  Other then that they have been like any other mantis.  Just make sure to add small sticks to the top of the cage so they can get a good grip for molting.  I have also noticed like ohaple said that they are much more skittish than any other species I have kept.  Very hard to get calm enough to crawl in your hand.